Springs and other damping mechanisms may be used to help control movement of a vehicle seat—for example, when the seat back is adjusted to a desired use position or when it is folded down for cargo or to allow ingress to a more rearward seat. In some cases it may be desirable to have a certain damping force or torque when a seat back is moved in one direction and a different damping force or torque when the seat back is moved in the other direction. To accomplish this, separate damping mechanisms may be employed for each direction of the seat back movement. This adds cost and complexity to the vehicle seat assembly, however, and is therefore not ideal. In addition, if a seat assembly installed in a vehicle requires a particular damping force or torque, while the same seat assembly in a different vehicle requires a different damping force or torque, completely different damping mechanisms may be employed for the same seat assembly on different vehicles. This also adds to complexity and cost in the manufacturing process. It would therefore be desirable to have a seat assembly that overcomes some or all of these shortcomings.